Sprint News 6/4/12: Walters’ Broken Wrist; Mare Nostrum Start Lists

…2008 Olympian Dave Walters revealed today to TexasSports.com that he broke his wrist 5 weeks ago, which would explain his absence from recent big meets, even those close-to-home in Southern California. He says that he’s almost back to 100%, but this close to the Olympic Trials, that sort of disruption to the normal training has to affect him. He also said that he’s debating possibly skipping either the 100 or 200 freestyles…

…The Masters World Championships began yesterday in Riccione, Italy with a record 14,000 participants descending on the 2012 version of the event. More than 9,000 of those will participate in the swimming portion, that begins on Sunday, June 10th. To handle the flood of athletes, competition will be going on simultaneously in one pool indoors and one pool outdoors. Full information on the meet can be found on its official website (including Start Lists and results) at www.finamasters2012.org. Unlike many major World Championship meets that can be tough to swing financially, this Masters event (which is relatively efficient to operate) is being touted as a boost to the ailing Italian economy, rather than a drain upon it. The current estimate puts 40 million Euros in revenue coming to the region…

…Brazil’s famous Pro16 group is headed to train in the Crystal Palace in the UK for the next few weeks, headed up to the Sette Colli Trophy in Italy. This is a favorite training spot of Brazilians, especially because of the outstanding blocks in the facility, something that is largely lacking in their home country. The Sette Colli Trophy will be among the final tune-ups for non-American swimmers headed toward the Olympics, and should have a massive field…

…Canet, France is the next stop of the 2012 Mare Nostrum tour beginning on Wednesday and wrapping Thursday. This meet will have largely the same field as the one in Barcelona, with plenty of huge names. All of the information needed to follow the meet can be found here, including start lists, Live Timing, and results at some point. The twist on this meet is that the 50m races are all swum as an open first round, followed by quarter, semi, and finally a two-swimmer showdown in the last round…

…The ASCA has announced 6 nominees for their 2012 round of board members (5 are elected each year). Among the more familiar names are Tennessee head coach Matt Kredich, running for a second term, and Michigan men’s head coach Mike Bottom. The other four nominees (with more still possible to come) are Don Heidary, Ira Klein, Steve Morsilli, and Jim Tierney. Tierney and Morsilli are both previous members of the board, Klein is the head coach at Sarasota, and Don Heidary is the head coach of Orinda Aquatics. Morsilli is the head coach of the Pleasanton Seahawks…